


Fray

by KyeAbove



Category: Death Note (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Gen, Murder, Past Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-26
Updated: 2020-03-26
Packaged: 2021-03-01 00:27:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,507
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23326231
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KyeAbove/pseuds/KyeAbove
Summary: Near faces an unchallenging puzzle. An eight year old boy who's fooled everyone but him.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 6





	Fray

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this back years ago and just rediscovered it today. Since it's an older work the writing quality and Near's characterization is a bit shaky but I found it mildly interesting enough to post. There will be no continuation.

It was the most interesting case Near had come across in his time as the official L, partly because all his other cases had been ‘Kira Killings’, people wishing to receive judgment from Kira. But here it was almost an entire family dead, found dead in their beds, throats slit. No forced entry, no sign of the murder weapon, and no suspects. No one in the area had a reason to murder them, as they had just moved from across the border days before, and all those who knew them before had tight enough alibis through the fact that no ever left town no where near long enough to make it to the crime scene and back. 

The only witness was an eight year old boy, who had supposedly hid in the closet during the attack. He wasn’t very helpful to the police, as he couldn’t give a clear description of the attackers. And he had done little more than cry and sleep almost the whole time since the murders. Everyone was taking pity on him. Near had always believed even children didn’t deserve pity.

Since the police force was incompetent, due to being filled with amateurs left over from Kira’s rein, they had desperately seeked out his help. After only an hour of studying the evidence, acting out scenarios with toys that he kept in a box in a corner these days, he came to a conclusion that no one else even came close to thinking of, being the assumptive people they were.

He immediately had Rester set up contact with the young witness himself, as he wanted to find out what he was really like, and not what the investigators thought. A half an hour later, Near found himself looking at a silver haired blond through his computer screen, though all the boy would be able to see was an ‘L’ on a white background. Near spoke into the mike, not bothering to turn on the voice disguiser, but he deepened his voice. 

“Enzo Fray. Is that who I speak with?” Near studied the boy’s reaction to his name, not missing the brief look of anger flash through his hazel eyes. But he otherwise continued to pass off as a normal child to the non-observant world. Near could partly understand why people would miss the little details. Most people didn’t look for micro-expressions when talking with a child, or when speaking to anyone, for that matter. “Are you alone in the room? No cameras but my own?” 

Enzo nodded, not breaking eye contact with the camera. Tears started to stream down his face, despite the fact that they were completely dry the previous second. He spoke in a quiet, shy voice, that seemed a little too good to be true.

“Mr. L? Are you going to find out who killed my mummy, daddy and big brother?” He looked quite scared, and any normal adult would have been tearing up at the sight of him, or at least feel saddened. But Near knew better. He had to fake such emotions when he was young after his mother and step father had died in a car crash. His older brother had hated him for it, but Near hadn’t cared.

“I already have.” Near said with a smirk. The innocent look dropped slightly from Enzo’s face, and the littlest bit of surprise ghosted in his eyes. Maybe he thought that Near would be incompetent like everyone else, and not someone with one of the highest tested IQs in Europe. But the Enzo shook his head, most likely deciding that Near would be wrong. “It’s quite obvious, actually.”

“Really? Who was it, L?” Near quickly took note of the fact that Enzo had dropped the ‘Mister’ title, but the look of panic that Enzo was trying to repress caught his attention more. He was starting to doubt himself, it seemed. Rightfully so.

“You.” And then the boy’s mask came crashing down. “All evidence points in your direction. The lack of DNA from the ‘attackers’ is because your DNA at the scene was never truly taken into account, as you would have been in the room before. And a child would know many places to hide a murder weapon.” Enzo’s face was dark, and the glare only intensified when Near called him a child. “Your motive appears to be lack of respect.” Enzo nodded. “One of the only reasons you’ve gotten by without suspicion from everyone else is because you are young, and even today people don’t believe children can do criminal acts. But I know better.”

Near looked briefly at Rester, who had already been informed of his deduction, and for now, it would stay that way. Near had no intentions of turning Enzo in just yet. There was still much to learn about him, and he doubted that anyone would find it any bit odd if he extended the time it took him to solve the case. Rester nodded, saying nothing, but Near knew what he was meaning.

He turned his attention back to Enzo, who had slumped in his chair, his head hung. It was only a moment later when Enzo let out a sharp laugh, followed by more. Memories of Light Yagami’s maniacal laugh started surfacing in Near’s mind, but he pushed them away, as he had to focus on the current case, and not his greatest cheat. 

Enzo’s laughing suddenly hitched, and with a smirk and possible insanity in his eyes, he looked back at the camera. “You must be a proper genius.” He put his hands on his now crossed knees. “I’ve never met another one before. Are we the last of our kind?” It took Near a moment to realize it was meant as a joke, in an attempt to avoid the worse situation. Near went along with it anyway.

“It may seem like we are the only ones, but I assure you that we are not alone. I’ve met others.” Enzo nodded, pleased with this answer. A look of regret flashed in his eyes, but Near could tell it wasn’t from pain over killing his family. “Are you going to tell the police what I did?” It was wrong to let a killer go free of punishment, but Near wanted to find out just what made Enzo Fray tick, and while he could manage it, it would be harder to do if the boy was in holding. 

“No.” Enzo’s face brightened up considerably, and the look was genuine. He looked as happy as any eight year old who got away with murder would. 

Now that he knew that the boy was in fact a genius like he had suspected, and not just insane, he knew Enzo would not fare well in any form of legal punishment. And his potential would be wasted. It would be easy to get him out without it being suspicious. He had contacts in the criminal world, that he could used to come up with a scapegoat. And the boy would probably be sent to Wammy’s House, so he could be among his own kind.

But this was not an open and shut case, Near knew. The boy would need to be monitored, and he doubted anyone working at Wammy’s House would be observant enough to do such a thing. A thought crossed his mind, and before he could chase it away, he started considering it. He would need a successor one day, and none of the children were what he wanted in one. They needed to not care about the victims of the cases solved, but he knew all of those who had potential would. 

But he needed to test Enzo before making any final decisions.

“Enzo,” Near noticed the boy cringe, and came to the conclusion that he didn’t like his first name very much. He switched to his last. “Fray, using only audio clues, tell me what you can deduce about me.” Fray blinked a few times, before nodding and closing his eyes, thinking about what he had heard throughout their conversation. When he opened them not long after, he looked confident.

“Okay,” Fray began, crossing his legs once again. “You’re short, or at least below average height.” He paused a moment, and Near called for him to continue, wanting to know how he figure out such a thing. “I know this because I’ve heard your chair moving, meaning you’re sitting at a desk. I haven’t heard your feet hitting against it, the wall or the floor. This leads me to think that you’re sitting with your knees to your chest, which would be harder to do with longer legs, and would cause discomfort, but you’re shown no sign of being uncomfortable.” Finished with hs deduction, Fray waited for Near’s reply, smiling.

Near was quite impressed. That didn’t happen very often. Some reasoning was a bit shaky, but that would be what training would help fix. “You are correct. Anything else?”

“No.”

“Then I will be seeing you soon, in person.” 

And the game began.


End file.
